Registering the fastest rise in revenues for the government on a single day since the auction process started, the bid price for all-India 3G spectrum shot up by more than 100 per cent at Rs 7,599 crore on Day 12, ensuring the exchequer a minimum of Rs 30,756 crore.
On the 12th day of the auction, the reserve price increased by about Rs 2,528 crore, the fastest rise in a day since April 9, when the auction started.
Delhi, the most-coveted circle, saw the bid price touching Rs 1,030.72 crore, the highest among all the circles, followed by Mumbai at Rs 989.48 crore.
However in Delhi circle, there is no excess demand as of now. The operators can always return and put their bid for the said circle as it happened earlier.
Maharashtra circle, for which the bid price stood at Rs 746.50 crore has a negative demand of two blocks against three blocks put on sale.
According to sources in the DoT, the activity level is still at 80 per cent, meaning that operators are concentrating now only on metros and A category service areas.
The government has budgeted for Rs 35,000 crore from the auctions of 3G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum.
Going by the current bid rates, the government is set to achieve its target of Rs 35,000 crore from the sale 3G spectrum alone.
The Telecom Minister A Raja had recently exuded confidence that the revenue from the sale of 3G and BWA spectrum is likely to touch Rs 45,000 crore.
The government had set a base price of Rs 3,500 crore for Pan-India 3G spectrum and Rs 1,750 crore for pan-India BWA spectrum.
Auction for broadband wireless access, or BWA, would start after two days of the close of 3G auction.
As many as 70 rounds of auction were completed till the 12th day.
In 3G mobile telephony, three private operators are allowed and in some states, four. The spectrum would be distributed in September after the DoT gets the airwaves from the defence forces.
However, for BWA only two slots are available. With 11 operators in the fray to grab spectrum with only two slots on the block there may be aggressive bidding.
